National League

The West

1.) Los Angeles Dodgers ( 97- 65 )

Looks like both L.A. teams will be winning the west this season as the Dodgers are loaded again. Probably the most interesting divisions to watch last year, this year shouldn’t be any different. This being said, expect the Dodgers to be atop and will be the second best team in the NL. The young talent the Dodgers have mentored, Matt Kemp,  Ronnie Belliard, James Lonley and Russell Martin, will be this teams foundation and do not expect them to be traded anytime soon. Then there is the always controversial Manny Ramirez. He has announced that this will be his last year as a Dodger but don’t be concerned because despite Manny wanting to leave Boston, he always put up great numbers. His power numbers have decreased but this is expected since this will be his eighteenth season. The loss of Juan Pierre to the Whitesox has hurt this team bench even with the replacement of Reed Johnson. Johnson does have the ability to play all three outfield position but he doesn’t carry a solid stick like Pierre. Ausmus will be back again surprisingly everyone with an impressive .295 avg. Once again though, his main job is to mentor starting catching R. Martin.

With Randy Wolf leaving L.A, the Dodgers moved up 2009 pick up Vicente Padilla to full-time starter. Padilla has had a roller coster career while with the Phillies and Rangers and then mid-way 2009, was released by Texas. During his few starts with the Dodgers, Padilla went 4-0 and accumulated an ERA of 3.20. With a full season ahead, expect this year to be his best due to a solid offense and solid defense behind him. Number 1 and 2 pitchers might not have the most impressive win/loss record but they both are punch-out machines. 2009 saw Billingsley and Kershaw combined to strikeout a total of 364 batters while 3 and 4 pitchers struck out 97.  With all that being said, this bullpen is what will separate the Dodgers from the Rockies. Lead by flame thrower Jonathan Broxton, this bullpen is solid from middle relief, setup and then the closer. Broxton accumulated more K’s than any of the 3-5 starting pitchers.

Hiroki Kuroda will be the player to watch as he was the only consistent starting pitcher to struggle last year. He will not strike out 7 or 8 a game but he doesn’t surrender many hits. Being the number three starter, he cannot have another mediocre year with 4 and 5 pitcher entering their first full season.

Starting Pitchers Win/Loss

1.) C. Kershaw- 16-9

2.) C. Billingsley- 15-7

3.) H. Kuroda- 8-9

4.) V. Padilla- 13-10

5.) J. McDonald- 7-8

2.) Colorado Rockies ( 94- 68 )

Great organization, young prosperous talent, finished in the top ten in hitting and pitching in 09′, this team has it all and I expect them to be in the playoffs for the second straight year.  No need to go out and replace depleting players, the Rockies extended contracts and signed players to boost their bench. Typically playing 3rd, newcomer Melvin Mora will be used as a utility player in the infield and outfield. Mora spent majority of his career with the Orioles and though not the biggest producer in runs or compiled the highest batting avg., Mora will be good enough to see plenty of playing time. Another new face that will compete for the job behind the dish, Miguel Olivo. Looking as his numbers, Olivio is not very consistent as his batting avg. fluctuates throughout his career. One thing that seemed to stand out is his power. With an impressive slg. percentage of .490 in 09′, Olivio also knocked 23 dingers. Thirty-six year old Todd Helton is still putting up impressive numbers as he batted an outstanding .325 and drove in 86 runs last season. Though there is a slump in Helton’s home-run mumbers, the Rockies will still have plenty of power throughout the line-up One thing this team could focus on during spring training is patients at the plate as they finished 2nd in total strikeouts. If there is a reduction, this offense will once again rank in the top 10 and could possible break the top five.

All of the Rockies starting five last season ended up with 10 or more wins and 2010 will be double-digit friendly again. Jason Marquis has found a new team in Washington but a new healthy Jeff Francis who missed the entire 2009 season will take his spot. In 2007 Francis posted a 17-9 record and being a lefty this will give Colorado two southpaws’ instead of one. Unfortunately being out a whole year could place Francis as the number five starter but with distinguished resume than Hammel or Rosa, Francis may end up third.

People always seem to overlook the bullpen and to me this is one of the most important pieces of the ball club. Great starting pitchers can be ruined by a terrible pen. An offense able to put up 7 to 9 runs game won’t mean anything if the pen gives up matching numbers, I.E. Rangers (05-08). The Rockies main problem going into the post season was not the overall quality but the youth. Not being able to hold the lead against the Phillies during last years postseason, the youth of the bullpen didn’t give up tons of runs in the late innings but gave up runs during clutch moments. This being the sophomore season for a couple of these pitchers, hopefully the Rockies will make a deeper run into October.  Player to watch is Jeff Francis. His 2008 season wasn’t great but three previous season Jeff accumulated double-digit wins. With a better squad than 05, 06 and 07, expect Jeff to have 10 + victories with an ERA slightly above 3.00

Starting Pitchers Win/Loss

1.) U. Jiminez- 17-10

2.) A. Cook- 15-11

3.) J. De La Rosa- 16-7

4.) J. Hammel- 13-12

5. ) J. Francis- 14-8

3.) San Francisco Giants ( 85 – 77 )

One of the deepest teams in the league, the outfield and infield have players that could rotate in and out daily and still be competitive. New left fielder Mark DeRosa and 1st baseman Aubrey Huff will make an immediate impact and provide a much needed spark for this offense. Disregarding the 2009 season, Huff has always carried a solid bat and maintain a reliable glove. Surprisingly Huff might be a very underrated power hitter too, hitting over 20 home-runs six times during his career. What may be odd about a team so deep is that none of the players batted in a 100 runs nor stole 20 bases in 09′. With very few changes overall, the team chemistry should be better and their batting numbers will improve. I still don’t believe S.F. is good enough to win the wild card as they are no where near talented as the Cubs, Braves or Rockies.

What hurt the Giants last year was the poor performance from Barry Zito. Being the number two starter in 09, Zito has never seemed to return to his 2002 form. With Matt Cain performing shockingly well last season, Zito will now drop down to the number 3 slot. Of course this team is lead by “The Freak”, Tim Lincecum. Three years in, Lincecum has compiled a 41-17 record with a microscopic ERA of 2.90. Now with Cain performing well and Lincecum being himself, the Giants need Zito to become a dependable starter again. The end of the rotation does show upside but still young and a lot of refining to do, their impact won’t be enough to get the Giants to the next level. Brian Wilson, Jeremy Affeldt, and Sergio Romo will be the backbone of the pen. After two straight successful years as closer, Wilson again is forecasted to put up matching numbers. Affeldt was one of the best set up men and him being a left-handed makes him that much more valuable to the Giants.

Keep an eye on Barry Zito because his 2010 performance is critical to keeping the Giants in contention. If Zito can win 13-15 games with stellar performances from Tim and Cain, S.F will have a great 1-3 if they do make the playoffs. Also watch Travis Ishikawa, the backup for 1st baseman Aubrey Huff. Travis has shown signs of being a 1st stringer the past two season and with the length of baseball season, expect to see a late season battle for 2011 starter.

Starting Pitchers Win/Loss

1.) T. Lincecum- 20-8

2.) M. Cain- 16-11

3.) B. Zito- 14-10

4.) J. Sanchez- 10-10

5.) M. Bumgarner- 6-12

4.) San Diego Padres ( 79 – 83 )

Padres have a good mix of veterans and amateurs but not a good mix of overall talent. Though competitive the few past seasons, they haven’t been able to keep stride with the Giants, Rockies and Dodgers. Yes their youth is good but this young squad isn’t taking enough strides this organization would like. None of the Padres batted over .280 nor knocked in over 100 runs. Adrian Gonzalez who has hit 30 + home runs the past three season did fall one run short of reaching 100 rbi’s and struck out 30 times less last year. S.D. does have a solid defense and do have players than can run the base pads. My main concern with this team is what should the Padres do with their talent? If they wait and the players just become avg. big leaguers, than they will have to dump a lot of players to just gain one great player. If they players do become good, do they dump the veterans and rebuild again while sitting at the bottom of the West? I don’t see this team making any major strides due to a very low payroll and a limited budget.

The rotation does show promise but with Jake Peavy leaving midway to the Whitesox, they do not have any true leadership. Chris Young will be their ace and considering how mediocre this staff is now, he is a good number one. Other than last year, Young has posted winning seasons and two of them winning over ten games. Winningest pitcher last year, Kevin Correria will be number two starter and long time Whitesox pitcher Jon Garland will be number three. Correria and Garland have the skill to help the Padres to finish at the .500 mark. Closer Heath Bell took over ex closer Trevor Hoffman without missing a beat. Saving 42 games out of 48, Bell should put up around the same numbers this season with a lower ERA. The rest of the bullpen shouldn’t seem an overwhelming amount of innings pitch, but if they do get in trouble during games then Bell might be seeing some early action.

Player to watch is Tony Gwynn Jr. Last year owning the starting role in CF, Gwynn’s lack of  respectable offensive numbers has him now fighting for the job with Scott Hairston. Hairston who was with the Padres the first half of 2009 was traded to Oakland. While with the Padres his numbers were impressive, almost batting .300 with ten home runs. While in Oakland, Hairston saw a drop in numbers. Now back in S.D, expect a career season and even a spot on the all-star list.

Starting Pitchers Win/Loss

1.) Chris Young- 13-8

2.) K. Correria- 13-9

3.) J. Garland- 10-12

4.) C. Richard- 11-9

5.) M. Latos- 5-9

5.) Arizona Diamondbacks ( 77 – 85 )

With the new six-year, 51 million dollar deal with B.J. Upton, the Arizona Diamondbacks have assured themselves at least one all-star player. Now if Arizona had another $200 + million they could become the Yankees of the N.L, but they don’t. They instead have talent that would give the Kansas City Royals a run for their money. Third baseman Mark Reynolds had over 100 RBI’s and 44 home-runs during 09 but also lead the league in total strikeouts with 223. Kelly Johnson from the Atlanta Braves will be playing 2nd base this year for the Backs’ and boasts the offense.  Kelly was usually a middle of the line up type of guy for the Braves but now with Arizona in Chase Field, expect him to be the # 3 or 4. The rest of the starting players are past their youth breakout seasons and will either slowly get better or become stagnant. The bench does have talent as people should pay attention to Gerarado Parra, Ryan Roberts and first year rookie Cole Gillespie. Parra who was the Diamondbacks starting LF,  batted .290 and drove in 60 RBI in 2009 will now be a utility player  in the outfield. Like Parra, Roberts was the main starter at 2B but with Kelly Johnson being implemented to the team, Roberts will now have to work his way back as a starter. One thing stood out about this team was their speed. Mark Reynolds and Upton both had over 20 + steals while Young had 10 +. If this team can get on base more, expect more run production and more wins.

With Brandon Webb being out all of 2009, this really hurt Arizona win at least half of their games. Now with a Webb back in the rotation, expect an extra 15-18 wins. Also with Webb back and Dan Haren being the number two starter, Arizona will have the 3rd best 1-2 starters in the N.L.W.  Only going 14-10 last season, Haren still had an ERA of 3.14 and a whopping 223 strikeouts. Edwin Jackson will be a viable number 3 that showed upside and if he can win double digits, this will be another reason the D-Backs will reach .500. The inexperience of newly aquired Ian Kennedy and the Diamondbacks 2009 Minor League Player of the Year, Billy Buckner, will have to be groomed a few more years before any serious push toward the playoffs can be made.

The bullpen isn’t quite there yet but with a healthy closer in Chad Qualls and a rising set up man, this bullpen’s performance this year shouldn’t surprise anyone as they will have their up and down moments. B.J Upton new contract is most deserved for the young stud, but will all this money go to his head and affect his performance? If he cannot live up to the $51 million, than the Diamondbacks will be cutting a lot of future talent to regain stability.

Starting Pitching Win/Loss

1.) Brandon Webb – 17-7

2.) D. Haren- 15-8

3.) E. Jackson- 13-11

4.) I. Kennedy- 5-9

5.) B. Buckner- 8-11